Yamato Ovan
This is the character featured in Sword Art Online: Blade Master. For the original character from Clashing Blades, see Yamato. Yamato Ovan is a player of Sword Art Online, and a central character in Sword Art Online: Blade Master. Appearance Yamato is mostly seen a black uwagi with matching divided hakama. He wears dark brown boots reaching up to his knees and is rarely seen without his haori, colored white with black hem and trim. Background Yamato was generally an acceptably social boy in his early years, developing quick friendships with those he would share bonds with into adulthood; Sakura Naoto and Takeo Tohno. From a young age, he was fascinated with the art of swordsmanship, and would often play by himself using sticks he'd find around his house to swing around, before he recieved his very own bokken on his 8th birthday. That same year, Yamato fell in with a gang of young criminals who also practiced martial arts, being tricked into thinking it was just a club, without his parent's knowledge. On his 11th year, the gang would attempt to force Yamato into murdering his parents as an initiation, being held at gunpoint to do so. When he refused, he was shot in the stomach and his parents were killed afterwards. Though critically wounded by the gunshot, Yamato, filled with rage, took the family's katana and slaughtered all of the gang members present, being five individuals under the age of 18. After the incident, friend of the family, Kirei Kyosho, adopted Yamato and taking him in as his new guardian, now living in the same household as Sakura Katsuragi. The incident would forever change Yamato, turning his once warm and friendly nature into a cold and distant shell of his former self. He would mature over the years, recovering somewhat from the incident some time before the release of Sword Art Online, relying heavily on Sakura and Takeo for support along the way, and becoming a calm, intelligent, and stoic individual, though still retaining his reserved nature and cold exterior. Sword Art Online Incident Yamato was an unsung figure of the SAO Incident, starting out working with his two childhood friends, Sakura Naoto and Takeo Tohno. The three shared close bonds with each other, and even lived together under the same roof. Takeo, being a beta tester of the game, learned of the existence of Skeith during the beta and had purposefully neglected to inform the developers of the anomaly, thereby allowing it into the main game. Takeo would hunt for and eventually find Skeith, taking it as his ultimate weapon. It would be at this point that his psyche began to break down as Skeith's effects began to take hold of him. Yamato saw these changes in his friend, becoming increasingly concerned as time went by, but not understanding what was causing him to change. It wouldn't be long before Yamato learned of Skeith's true nature, and he would begin to cross paths with Takeo, the two frequently arguing as they became more and more distant. Takeo would eventually turn completely against Yamato, betraying him and leaving him to die at the hands of the PK guild, the Guardians of Darkness. Barely surviving, Yamato became distraught at his failure to reach his former friend, who had discarded his true name in favor of his online name, Majora. Yamato would eventually learn of the existence of Skeith's mirror opposite, Corbenik, and recognized it as the only thing that could combat Skeith. He would eventually find it and take it for himself, becoming acquainted with its power and using it to destroy Skeith's influence wherever he saw it in order to contain its spread throughout the game. He would come across Majora again during this time, the two fighting in a fierce duel that ended in a stalemate, forcing both to retreat. Further hunting down Majora, Yamato would eventually confront him at the height of his power and the peak of his insanity. He would fight against Yamato one more time, and Skeith's grasp on Majora would weaken throughout the fight just enough for Yamato to land the death blow on Majora, breaking Skeith's influence over him and ending his life. However, Yamato, being unable to acquire Skeith himself, was left unable to completely destroy it entirely, leaving him to wait with the hopes that someone compatible with both Skeith and Corbenik would appear. It was not long after that Yamato would encounter Ishi Haseo, a man whose fate would become forever entwined with his own. Yamato's iconic status as the Wandering Swordsman was garnered from multiple stories of others who encountered him, claiming that he was unbeatable in combat and had the ability to drain a player's levels down to 1. He was known to mainly target PKers, and was both feared and revered by his skills in combat. In fact, his status has become almost mythical, as Yamato himself is rarely seen and never visits populated areas, in effect being mainly known by reputation rather than appearance, allowing him to freely walk amongst normal players without being recognized if need be. Personality Yamato is often considered a cold, indifferent, and generally apathetic individual, though was once a bright-eyed and optimistic youth. He also has shown to be wise beyond his years, possessing an incredible intellect along with life experience. Yamato is cunning and decisive, and also upholds a strong sense of honor, especially in combat with others. However, Yamato is also directionless, and has almost no sense of purpose in his life. He has claimed that he does not feel he has any reason to live, but no real reason to die either, and has settled on simply existing until he either one day finds meaning or simply fades away. To this end, he is generally indifferent towards most things, and due to this has next to no friends. The few friends he does have he also acts uninterested towards, but still feels compelled to help them whenever they need. The exception to this is his closest friend and love interest, Sakura Katsuragi, who he is much more open and friendly towards. Only with her has he ever been seen smiling. Due to his tragic past, Yamato is a pacifist, and refrains from using lethal force by any means necessary, and generally works to avoid conflict whenever possible. This is exemplified in his ability to use Data Drain with Corbenik, draining a player's level down to 1 and rendering them unable to continue fighting. In fact, despite his reputation as a fearsome and deadly swordsman, he has only ever killed one other player in his entire time in Sword Art Online, being Takeo Tohno when the latter was corrupted by Skeith. He deeply resents the mistakes he'd made in the past, and acknowledges the fact that he's too far gone to be redeemed. Through Galant and later Ishi Haseo he realizes that he'd abandoned who he was a long time ago, and that he could never get it back. Instead, he decides to redeem himself through Ishi, helping him to come to terms with himself before he ends up like him. Willing to give his life to that end, he no longer has any regrets. Abilities Yamato is an incredibly skilled swordsman, both in-game and in real life, and his expertise with a katana is matched by exceptionally few people. He is a master of the Kyosho Style Traditional Martial Art, and is the youngest ever to achieve the rank. His Dark Slayer styke is heavily influenced by iaido, and mainly employs rapid and accurate single handed strikes with his blade, unsheathing the blade to strike extremely quickly and with lethal precision, utilizing his unique skill, Judgement Cut, extensively. It is recognizable by its use of draw sword techniques, terrifyingly quick and accurate strikes, the quick and fluid movements Yamato makes throughout, and his heavy emphasis on Judgement Cut. Trivia *Yamato is especially friendly towards cats. *Yamato's design is inspired in Aoshi Shinomori. His clothes are partly inspired in the Shihakushō used by the Shinigami in Bleach. *It's unknown where Yamato's unusual surname came from, but it's speculated that it's not actually his last name and that he gave it to himself. Category:Character Category:Male Category:Player Category:SAO Player Category:Alpha Tester Category:Ishimura Elite